What would summer be without kids music to keep you busy on those long road trips–one we hope includes no traffic jams, dirty rest areas or too many Are we there yet’s.
Before you pack up the vehicle, check out this trio of great CD’s that you can pop into the CD player or download before you hit the road. They are all way better than another verse of The Ants Go Marching One By One, no matter how good your singing voice is. –Christina
{after the jump, catch a great 3-CD music giveaway!}
The brand new Flying from CMP favorite Recess Monkey is another talent-packed disc by the trio of teachers from Seattle. With songs aimed at kids who will see themselves in Covered in Band Aids or the soaring title song Flying, I like the different flavors of music that keep things rolling right along. And kindie music afficionadoes will get a kick out of hearing Lunch Money’s Molly Ledford in Invisible Friend and the funkified organ of Sugar Free Allstars’ Chris Wiser on Grandmom’s House.
In the nineties, The Verve Pipe was rocking out for college kids (who didn’t sing the achingly sad The Freshmen at the top of their lungs?), but their recent foray into kindie music has our kids rocking out too. While A Family Album is definitely a kid-friendly CD, there is plenty of fun beats and fresh lyrics for us grown ups to love. Things slow down on When One Became Two about a never-stop-growing family, and you gotta dig the “super-serious” rock anthem, (I love my) Cereal. I’m so glad these guys have jumped into the kindie pool and hope they stick around for a while.
For something really different, I am so glad to have been introduced to the sounds of Cat and a Bird. If I heard this playing in my local coffee shop, I would assume this was some hip new college band in the vein of The Squirrel Nut Zippers. French/American singer and violinist Emily Chimiak has such a pretty voice that contrasts Vasiliy Taranov’s jangly ukulele and upbeat tempos with a bit of Russian folk, American rock and jazz stirred together. Kids will love hearing a dozen songs about all sorts of creatures like the platypus, a butterfly, and a surfer turtle, though I think they’ll mostly be doing that sway, sway, sway thing in their car seats, just like me. (also available at CD Baby)
Check out our archives of kids music for more road-trip tunes.
Congratulations to Ellen E! She won the Cat and a Bird, Flying, and A Family Album cd’s. .
